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Overview

India Summit 2018 will take place on October 25th in Mumbai.

You can read about the 2017 India Summit — including speakers, programme, and sponsors — below.

India Summit 2017 will examine the public- and private-sector initiatives that will determine the trajectory of India’s economy. Government ministers, leaders of local and multinational companies, and the foremost experts on India and the global economy will debate what India must do to overcome current challenges and meet its lofty aims for future prosperity.

Can India become the world’s most important economy by 2050, as many prominent economists predict it will? Under the Modi administration, significant reforms have already been passed to make doing business easier and remove red tape. More must follow.

The corporate world will also have to do its part. Impressive, fast-growing tech enterprises and the explosion of e-commerce have dominated headlines for much of the past two years. But the big conglomerates that employ many thousands of workers will remain the engines of India’s growth, along with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). What roles must these businesses play in shaping India’s future?

Why attend

India Summit 2017 will bring together more than 180 government ministers, leaders of local and multinational companies, and the foremost experts to examine the public- and private-sector initiatives that will determine the trajectory of India’s economy.

Featured topics

What steps must the government take to ensure steady long-term growth?

Which key industries and sectors require immediate investment, and which should come first?

What progress has been made under Mr Modi’s government to reduce red tape and regulatory opaqueness in the infrastructure sector, and what is still to be done?

What steps can be taken to bring the benefits of digitisation to the broader population?

Can manufacturing be the foundation of India’s future growth?

What will Indian industry look like in 2030?

What skills will the workers of tomorrow need to succeed?

Audience testimonials

“I think the event covered the most relevant economic issues and challenges that the country is facing and the outcome of the discussions was indeed positive. The entire event was conducted in a positive light reflecting India as a country at the verge of a major leapfrog growth.” Managing director, RGF Executive Search India

“The event was full of diverse speakers from renowned institutions. I loved the way how varied topics were covered ranging from Economy, Innovation, Manufacturing etc. Kudos to the organised team as well.” Co-founder, Leaf Wearables

“The Economist India Summit is a much anticipated red letter day in my annual calendar!” Vice president, Indian Council for UN Relations

Speakers

Arun Jaitley

Minister of finance, India

Arun Jaitley

Minister of finance, India

Arun Jaitley has served as union minister of finance and corporate affairs and leader of the Rajya Sabha since May 2014. He was union minister of information and broadcasting from November 2014 to July 2016, and served briefly as union minister of defence (May–November 2014). He was re-elected to his third term in the Rajya Sabha in April 2012.
Mr Jaitley was leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha from June 2009 to May 2014. He served as general secretary of the BJP from 2004 to 2009. He has held numerous appointments in the government of India, including minister of law, justice and company affairs (2000–02) and minister of state of the Department of Disinvestment (1999–2000).
Mr Jaitley was selected for the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2010. He has practised law before the Supreme Court and several High Courts in the country since 1977, and in 1989 he was designated as senior advocate. He holds a bachelor of commerce (honours) and a bachelor of laws from the Shri Ram College of Commerce and the Faculty of Law, both of the University of Delhi.

Piyush Goyal

Minister of railways and coal, India

Piyush Goyal

Minister of railways and coal, India

Piyush Goyal is the minister railways and the minister of coal in the government of India. He is currently a member of Rajya Sabha and was earlier the national treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He headed the BJP's information communication campaign committee and oversaw the publicity and advertising campaign of the party, including the social media outreach for the Indian general elections in 2014.

During his 28-year political career, Mr Goyal has held several important positions at different levels in the BJP and is in the National Executive of the party. In 2002 the government of India nominated him to the prestigious Task-force on Interlinking of Rivers.
He was a well-known investment banker and he has advised top corporates on management strategy and growth. He earlier served on the board of the State Bank of India and the Bank of Baroda.

Mr Goyal is a chartered accountant and studied law at Mumbai University. He has participated in leadership programmes at Yale University (2011), Oxford University (2012) and Princeton University (2013) and is currently pursuing the Owner/President Management (OPM) programme at Harvard Business School.

Zarin Daruwala

Chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank India

Zarin Daruwala

Chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank India

Zarin Daruwala has been the chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank India since April 2016. Before assuming her current role, she was the president at ICICI Bank, where she was responsible for managing the wholesale banking business. She joined the ICICI Group in 1989 and has had varied experience working in several departments such as corporate planning, investment banking and credit. She has held leadership positions in several areas, including corporate finance and agribusiness. In addition to her responsibilities as president of ICICI Bank, Ms Daruwala served on the board of directors of ICICI Lombard General Insurance and ICICI Securities. She also served on the board of JSW Steel for almost eight years.

She was named the 14th most powerful woman in business by Fortune India in 2016, and was selected five times as one of the top 30 most powerful women in Indian business by Business Today. She has also received the CA Business Achiever Award from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Ms Daruwala is a rank-holding chartered accountant and a gold-medallist company secretary.

Anil Agarwal

Founder and chairman, Vedanta Resources

Anil Agarwal

Founder and chairman, Vedanta Resources

Anil Agarwal founded the Vedanta Group in 1979 and is the executive chairman of Vedanta Resources, a London-listed company that has grown annual revenues from $1bn to over $10bn in the past decade. Mr Agarwal has over 40 years of entrepreneurial and business experience. He shaped the group’s strategic vision and now plays the role of chief mentor to a talent pool of over 80,000 direct and indirect employees. He places considerable focus on sustainable development for the benefit of the communities in the locations of Vedanta’s operations. In 1992 he initiated the creation of the philanthropic arm of the group, the Vedanta Foundation, with the deep-seated belief that companies have a responsibility to contribute substantially to the welfare of the community that has allowed them to grow and prosper.

Isher Judge Ahluwalia

Chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations

Isher Judge Ahluwalia

Chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations

Isher Judge Ahluwalia, an eminent Indian economist, is chairperson of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), a leading think-tank based in New Delhi engaged in policy-oriented research.

Ms Ahluwalia’s research has focused on policy-oriented challenges facing the Indian economy in the areas of urbanisation, sustainable public-service delivery, macroeconomic issues, and industrial growth and productivity. From 2013 to 2015, she led ICRIER’s research and capacity-building programme on the challenges of urbanisation in India. She was chairperson of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure and Services, government of India, from 2008 to 2011.

Ms Ahluwalia is on the board of trustees of a number of national and international research institutions. She was a board member of the International Water Management Institute from 2010 to 2016. She was chairperson of the board of trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC, from 2003 to 2006. She routinely participates in and contributes to international conferences both in India and abroad.

Ms Ahluwalia received a BA (honours) from Presidency College, Calcutta University; an MA from the Delhi School of Economics; and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all in economics. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the president of India in 2009 for her services in the field of education and literature.

Robert Koopman

Chief economist and director of the economic research and statistics division, World Trade Organization

Robert Koopman

Chief economist and director of the economic research and statistics division, World Trade Organization

Robert Koopman serves as the chief economist and director of the economic research and statistics division at the World Trade Organisation. In this post Mr Koopman provides the secretariat and member countries with analysis and information that promote a deeper understanding of trade and trade policy's role in economic growth and development. Previously he served as the director of operations and chief operating officer for the United States International Trade Commission. Mr Koopman oversaw the commission’s trade-policy research and negotiation assistance to the president, the US Trade Representative and Congress, as well as its other statutory responsibilities. He is also currently a visiting professor of economics at the Graduate Institute Geneva and was previously an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

Amitabh Kant

Chief executive, NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant

Chief executive, NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant is the chief executive of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), an Indian government institution for catalysing the development process and nurturing an overall enabling environment by working in partnership with states.

Mr Kant is a member of the Indian Administrative Service. Until March 2016, he was the secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. He has worked as chairman and chief executive of the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, chairman of the National Productivity Council, CMD-ITDC secretary (tourism) for the government of Kerala; and joint secretary of the Ministry of Tourism.

He is the author of “Branding India: An Incredible Story”, and has been a key driver of the Make in India, Startup India, Incredible India and God’s Own Country initiatives, which have positioned and branded India and Kerala state as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations.

Sanjiv Mehta

Chief executive officer and managing director, Hindustan Unilever

Sanjiv Mehta

Chief executive officer and managing director, Hindustan Unilever

Sanjiv Mehta is the CEO and managing director of India’s largest FMCG company, Hindustan Unilever. He also leads Unilever’s business in South Asia as executive vice-president. He assumed his current responsibilities in 2013.
Mr Mehta has been with Unilever for nearly 25 years, and for the past 15 years he has led businesses in various parts of the world. He has been chairman and managing director of Unilever Bangladesh (2002–06), chairman and CEO of Unilever Philippines (2007–08), and chairman of Unilever North Africa and Middle East (2008–13).
Mr Mehta is on the India advisory boards of Harvard Business School, Enactus, HSBC’s Skills for Life programme and Xynteo’s India 2022 coalition. He is a member of the Breach Candy Hospital Trust and a member of the national or executive committee of several trade and industry bodies.
A firm believer that doing well and doing good are two sides of the same coin, he propagates the cause of compassionate capitalism. Mr Mehta has a bachelor of commerce (India), is a chartered accountant (India) and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Amit Jain

President, India and South Asia, Uber

Amit Jain

President, India and South Asia, Uber

As president for Uber India and South Asia, Amit Jain leads the company's growth in one of its most strategic global markets. Before he joined Uber, Mr Jain was president of Rent.com, a leading technology company in the US. Earlier, he spent several years at TPG Capital, a global private equity firm, and at McKinsey & Company, where he was an associate partner. Mr Jain holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and an MBA from Stanford University.

Vinita Bali

Chair of the board of the directors, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

Vinita Bali

Chair of the board of the directors, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

Vinita Bali is a global business leader with extensive experience in leading large companies both in India and overseas. She has worked with eminent multinationals such as the Coca-Cola Company and Cadbury Schweppes in a variety of marketing, general management and chief executive roles in the UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Latin America and the US, in addition to Britannia Industries in India.

Ms Bali is pursuing her interests in the corporate and development sectors through a portfolio of roles and responsibilities. She is a non-executive director on the global boards of Syngenta International and Smith & Nephew. She serves as chairman of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and is on the advisory board of Cornell University’s Department of Nutritional Sciences. She also serves as a non-executive director on the boards of several companies in India (CRISIL, Titan Industries, and Kasturi & Sons) and is a member of the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and a member of the advisory board of PwC.

Ms Bali was among 27 global leaders appointed by the UN in 2012 to help improve maternal and child health as part of its Scaling Up Nutrition initiative; she completed her term in 2016. She has been recognised in forums nationally and internationally and won several awards for her various contributions to business.

Suchi Mukherjee

Founder and chief executive officer, Limeroad.com

Suchi Mukherjee

Founder and chief executive officer, Limeroad.com

Suchi Mukherjee is the power behind India’s most extensive online fashion discovery platform, LimeRoad. Prior to creating LimeRoad, she built the UK’s largest classified business. She then went on to help build business for eBay in the UK and later became a part of the executive management team of Skype.
Ms Mukherjee was named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in the NDTV Unicorn Start-Up Awards 2016, recognised among the Global Women Leaders under 40 and received the Femina Women Super Achiever Award. She was also selected as one of 15 women worldwide who were showcased and celebrated as high-potential leaders under 40 at the World Women’s Forum in Deauville, 2010. LimeRoad was voted the Coolest Start-Up by Business Today.
Ms Mukherjee received the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship to study economics at Cambridge University in 1994 and earned her master’s degree in finance and economics from the London School of Economics.

SP Shukla

Group president, aerospace, defence and steel and member of group executive board, Mahindra Group

SP Shukla

Group president, aerospace, defence and steel and member of group executive board, Mahindra Group

SP Shukla is a member of the group executive board of Mahindra & Mahindra. As group president, he is responsible for the aerospace, defence and steel sectors. In this position, he is the chairman of several companies engaged in designing and producing aircraft, armoured vehicles, radars, naval systems and specialty steel.
Mr Shukla has 36 years of diverse experience managing large projects and operations. Prior to his current role, he served as president of group strategy and chief brand officer of Mahindra Group. In that role, he orchestrated a complete makeover of the visual identity of Mahindra Group and oversaw the launch of the Rise Prize (worth $1m), aimed to foster an innovation ecosystem in India. He also helped to create Mahindra Racing’s current portfolio in MotoGP and Formula E.
Mr Shukla is a member of the technology development board of the Department of Science and Technology, India. He has been invited to speak at various industry and academic forums, including Harvard Business School, Washington University, Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and TEDx. He has a BTech and an MBA.

Saurabh Kumar

Managing director, Energy Efficiency Services Limited

Saurabh Kumar

Managing director, Energy Efficiency Services Limited

Since 2013 Saurabh Kumar has served as the managing director of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of public-sector undertakings under the Ministry of Power in India. A bureaucrat by profession, Mr Kumar has developed several projects on energy efficiency, including Unnat Jeevan by Affordable LEDs and Appliances for All (UJALA) and Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), which were officially launched in January 2015. In addition to these programmes, he and his team have successfully implemented several demand-side measures, including municipal functions, agriculture, public building and lighting.
Prior to joining EESL, Mr Kumar worked in various capacities in the income tax department of the Ministry of Power, as well as at the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, where he led the implementation of the world’s largest CDM (clean development mechanism) efficient lighting project. He is an electrical engineer with a degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and he has a master’s degree in public policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo.

Satyanarayana Chava

Founder and chief executive officer, Laurus Labs

Satyanarayana Chava

Founder and chief executive officer, Laurus Labs

Satyanarayana Chava established Laurus Labs, a pharmaceutical company, in 2005. The company has received numerous awards at the national and international level, including Best Company in an Emerging Market from Scrip, National Safety Award from the government of India, Economic Times Manufacturing Excellence Award, Excellence in Performance and Business Scalability Award from Yes Bank and Health-Care Company of the Year Award from VCCircle.

Mr Chava started his career with Ranbaxy Laboratories as a research scientist in 1993. In 1995, he moved to Hyderabad and joined Vorin Laboratories, which became part of Matrix Labs. During his ten-year career with Matrix Labs, Mr Chava contributed significantly to the company’s growth and became chief operating officer in 2004. He has authored more than 100 patents over the course of his career so far. Mr Chava was appointed to the board of trustees of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention in 2016.

He completed a master of science and doctor of philosophy in chemistry at Andhra University. Mr Chava earned an executive MBA from the Indian School of Business in 2011, and he received an honorary doctor of science degree from GITAM University (Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management) in 2015.

Alan Rosling

Chairman, Griffin Growth Partners

Alan Rosling

Chairman, Griffin Growth Partners

Alan Rosling is an entrepreneur and strategic adviser focused on high-growth markets, especially India. He chairs Griffin Growth Partners and was co-founder of Kiran Energy, one of India’s pioneering independent solar-power producers.
Mr Rosling is a non-executive director of Coats Group and Constellation Alpha Capital Corp. He advises a number of early-stage businesses, especially in India. He was an executive director of Tata Sons Limited for five years, from 2004, and was the director responsible for internationalising the Tata Group. From 1998 to 2003 he was chairman of the Jardine Matheson Group in India.
His earlier career included the policy unit at Number 10 Downing Street; strategy director at United Distillers; and S.G. Warburg.
Mr Rosling was educated at Cambridge University and Harvard Business School. His first book, Boom Country: The New Wave of Indian Enterprise, was published in 2017.

Viraj Kalyani

Founder and chairman, Kalyani Studio

Viraj Kalyani

Founder and chairman, Kalyani Studio

Viraj Kalyani is an entrepreneur and business leader who is bringing high-strength engineering and design to the world through his entrepreneurial venture, Kalyani Studio. Considering himself a disrupter in the engineering solutions space, he is keen on championing the government of India’s mission of “Make in India” with his pioneering vision of “Design in India” through Kalyani Studio.
Mr Kalyani has served on the executive committee of Young Indians, Pune, for three years and was chairman of Yi Pune in 2015–16. He was the youngest chairman in the country and collaborated with CII on youth leadership projects, where young entrepreneurs come together to discuss and build new business ecosystems.
Mr Kalyani graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and completed the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, a rigorous and selective dual-degree programme, with a bachelor of science in economics (finance) at the Wharton School and a bachelor of science in engineering (mechanical) at the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Anirudha Dutta

India macro analyst, Capital Group and author of Half a Billion Rising: The Emergence of the Indian Woman

Anirudha Dutta

India macro analyst, Capital Group and author of Half a Billion Rising: The Emergence of the Indian Woman

Anirudha Dutta is the author of Half a Billion Rising: The Emergence of the Indian Woman, published in 2015. He is an India analyst at Capital Group, a US-based mutual-fund company, and has been working in the financial services sector for over two decades. He holds a degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and a post-graduate diploma in business management from the Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur.

Krishna Giri

Chairman and chief executive officer, Adrenalin eSystems

Krishna Giri

Chairman and chief executive officer, Adrenalin eSystems

Krishna Giri is currently the chairman and chief executive officer of Adrenalin eSystems, a global human capital management company. Mr Giri has nearly 30 years of experience in management consulting and technology services. His areas of expertise cover strategic planning, business and ICT strategy, transformation, and process improvement in diverse industries. He is a strategist with a clear focus on delivering technology to solve business problems, enable new business channels and transform organisations. He has advised, led and delivered large-scale transformational programmes to both public- and private-sector organisations in India and abroad. He has worked extensively in the US and in the Asia Pacific region.
Mr Giri was formerly vice chairman and managing partner of Accenture India and Asia Pacific and was a senior partner with IBM Global Business Services, Singapore office; Mitchell Madison Group, San Francisco; and Andersen Consulting, Chicago.
He serves as a senior adviser to Roland Berger, a global strategy firm, and is on the board of governors of IIITDM Kancheepuram. Mr Giri has a master’s degree in international affairs and public policy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and he is an alumnus of the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He has been conferred with a DLitt by Dr MGR University.

Sunil Kanoria

Vice chairman, Srei Infrastructure Finance

Sunil Kanoria

Vice chairman, Srei Infrastructure Finance

As the vice chairman of Srei Infrastructure Finance, a Kanoria Foundation entity, Sunil Kanoria has been instrumental in bringing around $5.5bn of consolidated assets under the company's management. He also is a trustee of the Kanoria Foundation.

Mr Kanoria is one of the most respected business thought leaders, especially in the area of infrastructure development and financing. More than a decade ago, he envisioned and laid the foundations of the independent telecom infrastructure industry in India under the aegis of Quippo Telecom. He championed the cause of a multi-operator shared tower policy, which changed the Indian telecom tower landscape. He formed a joint venture with Tata Teleservices to form Viom Networks, which is now India's largest telecom tower company with over 42,000 towers. And under his guidance, Srei Equipment Finance has emerged as India's top infrastructure equipment financier with over 30% market share.

Mr Kanoria serves as president of ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India). He has also been nominated as a member of the India-Malaysia CEO Forum and the India-Korea CEO Forum. He has been elected as a member of the governing council of the India International Chamber of Commerce. He is also a governing body member of the Construction Industry Development Council. Mr Kanoria is a council member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, a member of the board of directors of the North-east India–ASEAN Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and honorary consul of Spain in Kolkata.

Anand Kripalu

Managing director and chief executive, Diageo India

Anand Kripalu

Managing director and chief executive, Diageo India

As chief executive and managing director of Diageo India, Anand Kripalu is leading the firm’s transformational journey. He is also part of the executive committee of Diageo plc. He was formerly president, India and South Asia, at Mondelez International, and managing director of Cadbury India. He also worked at Hindustan Unilever for 22 years. He has been a board member at Marico since 2007 and served as the chairman of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies.

Mr Kripalu has a bachelor’s degree in electronics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. He has also completed the advanced management programme at Wharton Business School.

Deepak Bagla

Chief executive and managing director, Invest India

Deepak Bagla

Chief executive and managing director, Invest India

Deepak Bagla is the chief executive and managing director of Invest India, the national investment promotion and facilitation agency for India.

His professional career started with the World Bank in Washington before he moved back to India to join the corporate projects team of RPG Enterprises. In 1989, he joined the global corporate and investment banking team at Citibank, and for the next 18 years, he held responsibilities across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. In 2007, he joined 3i Private Equity to start a fund dedicated to core infrastructure in India.

Mr Bagla was a special invitee to the government of India’s high-level committee on financing infrastructure from 2011 to 2013. He was a member of the banking and finance committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards in 2005 and 2006, and a member of the committee established by the government to recommend corporate-governance norms for independent directors in 2006. He was also the president of the Delhi Management Association in 2008 and 2009.

He holds a bachelor’s degree with honours in economics from St Stephen’s College, New Delhi, and a dual master’s degree in international diplomacy and international trade and finance from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington.

Agenda

Registration and networking refreshments

9:15 AM

Chairman’s opening remarks

Stanley Pignal

South Asia business and finance correspondent, The Economist

Stanley Pignal

South Asia business and finance correspondent, The Economist

Stanley Pignal is the South Asia business and finance correspondent, based in Mumbai. In his previous roles as finance correspondent then banking editor, he oversaw coverage of financial institutions from London, during which he wrote The Economist’s special report on “fintech”. He joined the newspaper in October 2012 from the Financial Times, where among other posts he covered the European Union out of Brussels during the euro-zone crisis. Mr Pignal also spent time in his native France to cover the banking, retail and luxury sectors. Prior to the FT Mr Pignal worked in corporate finance, analysing investment opportunities in the energy sector.

9:30 AM

Opening keynote interview

Arun Jaitley

Minister of finance, India

Arun Jaitley

Minister of finance, India

Arun Jaitley has served as union minister of finance and corporate affairs and leader of the Rajya Sabha since May 2014. He was union minister of information and broadcasting from November 2014 to July 2016, and served briefly as union minister of defence (May–November 2014). He was re-elected to his third term in the Rajya Sabha in April 2012.
Mr Jaitley was leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha from June 2009 to May 2014. He served as general secretary of the BJP from 2004 to 2009. He has held numerous appointments in the government of India, including minister of law, justice and company affairs (2000–02) and minister of state of the Department of Disinvestment (1999–2000).
Mr Jaitley was selected for the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2010. He has practised law before the Supreme Court and several High Courts in the country since 1977, and in 1989 he was designated as senior advocate. He holds a bachelor of commerce (honours) and a bachelor of laws from the Shri Ram College of Commerce and the Faculty of Law, both of the University of Delhi.

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck began writing for The Economist in 1989. Previous to his current role he was Middle East bureau chief from 2000 to 2015, covering the region from Morocco to Iran, and topics ranging from wars and revolutions to radical Islam, Arabic pop culture and the ancient art of distilling arak. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, his own book, Cairo: The City Victorious, has been published in eight languages.

10:00 AM

Keynote panel: The big picture—Ensuring long-term, sustainable growth

For India to become the world’s economic powerhouse, it must first broaden the tax base and bring more of India’s rural communities into the formal economy. The Modi administration’s bold demonetisation initiative of late 2016 has hastened this process, but more must be done to put in place clear legal frameworks and a reliable enforcement regime. Corrupt practices and a lack of transparency in government and business have long deterred investors; these must also be stamped out.
Beyond India’s borders, the retreat of globalisation will hinder the economy’s progress in the near term. Brexit, the election of Donald Trump as the American president, and the anti-trade sentiment sweeping across the West will all redirect foreign investment—away from India. Programmes that rely on investment from multinational companies, such as Make in India, could come undone.
What must happen now to sustain India’s economic growth trajectory?

Amitabh Kant

Chief executive, NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant

Chief executive, NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant is the chief executive of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), an Indian government institution for catalysing the development process and nurturing an overall enabling environment by working in partnership with states.

Mr Kant is a member of the Indian Administrative Service. Until March 2016, he was the secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. He has worked as chairman and chief executive of the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, chairman of the National Productivity Council, CMD-ITDC secretary (tourism) for the government of Kerala; and joint secretary of the Ministry of Tourism.

He is the author of “Branding India: An Incredible Story”, and has been a key driver of the Make in India, Startup India, Incredible India and God’s Own Country initiatives, which have positioned and branded India and Kerala state as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations.

Isher Judge Ahluwalia

Chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations

Isher Judge Ahluwalia

Chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations

Isher Judge Ahluwalia, an eminent Indian economist, is chairperson of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), a leading think-tank based in New Delhi engaged in policy-oriented research.

Ms Ahluwalia’s research has focused on policy-oriented challenges facing the Indian economy in the areas of urbanisation, sustainable public-service delivery, macroeconomic issues, and industrial growth and productivity. From 2013 to 2015, she led ICRIER’s research and capacity-building programme on the challenges of urbanisation in India. She was chairperson of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure and Services, government of India, from 2008 to 2011.

Ms Ahluwalia is on the board of trustees of a number of national and international research institutions. She was a board member of the International Water Management Institute from 2010 to 2016. She was chairperson of the board of trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC, from 2003 to 2006. She routinely participates in and contributes to international conferences both in India and abroad.

Ms Ahluwalia received a BA (honours) from Presidency College, Calcutta University; an MA from the Delhi School of Economics; and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all in economics. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the president of India in 2009 for her services in the field of education and literature.

Zarin Daruwala

Chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank India

Zarin Daruwala

Chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank India

Zarin Daruwala has been the chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank India since April 2016. Before assuming her current role, she was the president at ICICI Bank, where she was responsible for managing the wholesale banking business. She joined the ICICI Group in 1989 and has had varied experience working in several departments such as corporate planning, investment banking and credit. She has held leadership positions in several areas, including corporate finance and agribusiness. In addition to her responsibilities as president of ICICI Bank, Ms Daruwala served on the board of directors of ICICI Lombard General Insurance and ICICI Securities. She also served on the board of JSW Steel for almost eight years.

She was named the 14th most powerful woman in business by Fortune India in 2016, and was selected five times as one of the top 30 most powerful women in Indian business by Business Today. She has also received the CA Business Achiever Award from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Ms Daruwala is a rank-holding chartered accountant and a gold-medallist company secretary.

Robert Koopman

Chief economist and director of the economic research and statistics division, World Trade Organization

Robert Koopman

Chief economist and director of the economic research and statistics division, World Trade Organization

Robert Koopman serves as the chief economist and director of the economic research and statistics division at the World Trade Organisation. In this post Mr Koopman provides the secretariat and member countries with analysis and information that promote a deeper understanding of trade and trade policy's role in economic growth and development. Previously he served as the director of operations and chief operating officer for the United States International Trade Commission. Mr Koopman oversaw the commission’s trade-policy research and negotiation assistance to the president, the US Trade Representative and Congress, as well as its other statutory responsibilities. He is also currently a visiting professor of economics at the Graduate Institute Geneva and was previously an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

Anil Agarwal

Founder and chairman, Vedanta Resources

Anil Agarwal

Founder and chairman, Vedanta Resources

Anil Agarwal founded the Vedanta Group in 1979 and is the executive chairman of Vedanta Resources, a London-listed company that has grown annual revenues from $1bn to over $10bn in the past decade. Mr Agarwal has over 40 years of entrepreneurial and business experience. He shaped the group’s strategic vision and now plays the role of chief mentor to a talent pool of over 80,000 direct and indirect employees. He places considerable focus on sustainable development for the benefit of the communities in the locations of Vedanta’s operations. In 1992 he initiated the creation of the philanthropic arm of the group, the Vedanta Foundation, with the deep-seated belief that companies have a responsibility to contribute substantially to the welfare of the community that has allowed them to grow and prosper.

Stanley Pignal

South Asia business and finance correspondent, The Economist

Stanley Pignal

South Asia business and finance correspondent, The Economist

Stanley Pignal is the South Asia business and finance correspondent, based in Mumbai. In his previous roles as finance correspondent then banking editor, he oversaw coverage of financial institutions from London, during which he wrote The Economist’s special report on “fintech”. He joined the newspaper in October 2012 from the Financial Times, where among other posts he covered the European Union out of Brussels during the euro-zone crisis. Mr Pignal also spent time in his native France to cover the banking, retail and luxury sectors. Prior to the FT Mr Pignal worked in corporate finance, analysing investment opportunities in the energy sector.

11:00 AM

Networking break

11:30 AM

Panel: Building blocks—India’s infrastructure needs

Companies point to creaking infrastructure as the greatest challenge of doing business, and the biggest roadblock to India’s long-term growth. The strain on infrastructure will only worsen as the population grows and more people move to cities.
In 2016, finance minister Arun Jaitley claimed that India needs over $1.5 trillion of investment over the next 10 years to make up for present shortcomings. That figure is just a starting point, and investment alone will not be enough. Government-led initiatives to build better railways, construct air and sea ports and fix shoddy roads are progressing, but familiar problems such as excessive red tape, corruption and a lack of transparency continue to hamper the sector.
How can India overcome its infrastructure hurdles to boost long-term growth?

Saurabh Kumar

Managing director, Energy Efficiency Services Limited

Saurabh Kumar

Managing director, Energy Efficiency Services Limited

Since 2013 Saurabh Kumar has served as the managing director of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of public-sector undertakings under the Ministry of Power in India. A bureaucrat by profession, Mr Kumar has developed several projects on energy efficiency, including Unnat Jeevan by Affordable LEDs and Appliances for All (UJALA) and Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), which were officially launched in January 2015. In addition to these programmes, he and his team have successfully implemented several demand-side measures, including municipal functions, agriculture, public building and lighting.
Prior to joining EESL, Mr Kumar worked in various capacities in the income tax department of the Ministry of Power, as well as at the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, where he led the implementation of the world’s largest CDM (clean development mechanism) efficient lighting project. He is an electrical engineer with a degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and he has a master’s degree in public policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo.

Sunil Kanoria

Vice chairman, Srei Infrastructure Finance

Sunil Kanoria

Vice chairman, Srei Infrastructure Finance

As the vice chairman of Srei Infrastructure Finance, a Kanoria Foundation entity, Sunil Kanoria has been instrumental in bringing around $5.5bn of consolidated assets under the company's management. He also is a trustee of the Kanoria Foundation.

Mr Kanoria is one of the most respected business thought leaders, especially in the area of infrastructure development and financing. More than a decade ago, he envisioned and laid the foundations of the independent telecom infrastructure industry in India under the aegis of Quippo Telecom. He championed the cause of a multi-operator shared tower policy, which changed the Indian telecom tower landscape. He formed a joint venture with Tata Teleservices to form Viom Networks, which is now India's largest telecom tower company with over 42,000 towers. And under his guidance, Srei Equipment Finance has emerged as India's top infrastructure equipment financier with over 30% market share.

Mr Kanoria serves as president of ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India). He has also been nominated as a member of the India-Malaysia CEO Forum and the India-Korea CEO Forum. He has been elected as a member of the governing council of the India International Chamber of Commerce. He is also a governing body member of the Construction Industry Development Council. Mr Kanoria is a council member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, a member of the board of directors of the North-east India–ASEAN Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and honorary consul of Spain in Kolkata.

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck began writing for The Economist in 1989. Previous to his current role he was Middle East bureau chief from 2000 to 2015, covering the region from Morocco to Iran, and topics ranging from wars and revolutions to radical Islam, Arabic pop culture and the ancient art of distilling arak. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, his own book, Cairo: The City Victorious, has been published in eight languages.

12:15 PM

Panel: The world’s factory—Boosting the potential of India’s manufacturers

Spurred by huge investments from foreign and local corporations, and by Make in India and other government programmes, manufacturing could expand into a $1 trillion industry and create as many as 90m jobs by 2025. But for the country’s manufacturers to reach their potential and compete with counterparts in China, Japan and America, labour and capital productivity must improve and regulations must be simplified. Looking to the (not too distant) future, advances in automation technology could dent the sector’s job creation potential as robots start to replace people to run factory floors.
Can manufacturing be the foundation of India’s future growth, and will automation help or hinder the sector?

Viraj Kalyani

Founder and chairman, Kalyani Studio

Viraj Kalyani

Founder and chairman, Kalyani Studio

Viraj Kalyani is an entrepreneur and business leader who is bringing high-strength engineering and design to the world through his entrepreneurial venture, Kalyani Studio. Considering himself a disrupter in the engineering solutions space, he is keen on championing the government of India’s mission of “Make in India” with his pioneering vision of “Design in India” through Kalyani Studio.
Mr Kalyani has served on the executive committee of Young Indians, Pune, for three years and was chairman of Yi Pune in 2015–16. He was the youngest chairman in the country and collaborated with CII on youth leadership projects, where young entrepreneurs come together to discuss and build new business ecosystems.
Mr Kalyani graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and completed the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, a rigorous and selective dual-degree programme, with a bachelor of science in economics (finance) at the Wharton School and a bachelor of science in engineering (mechanical) at the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

SP Shukla

Group president, aerospace, defence and steel and member of group executive board, Mahindra Group

SP Shukla

Group president, aerospace, defence and steel and member of group executive board, Mahindra Group

SP Shukla is a member of the group executive board of Mahindra & Mahindra. As group president, he is responsible for the aerospace, defence and steel sectors. In this position, he is the chairman of several companies engaged in designing and producing aircraft, armoured vehicles, radars, naval systems and specialty steel.
Mr Shukla has 36 years of diverse experience managing large projects and operations. Prior to his current role, he served as president of group strategy and chief brand officer of Mahindra Group. In that role, he orchestrated a complete makeover of the visual identity of Mahindra Group and oversaw the launch of the Rise Prize (worth $1m), aimed to foster an innovation ecosystem in India. He also helped to create Mahindra Racing’s current portfolio in MotoGP and Formula E.
Mr Shukla is a member of the technology development board of the Department of Science and Technology, India. He has been invited to speak at various industry and academic forums, including Harvard Business School, Washington University, Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and TEDx. He has a BTech and an MBA.

Sanjiv Mehta

Chief executive officer and managing director, Hindustan Unilever

Sanjiv Mehta

Chief executive officer and managing director, Hindustan Unilever

Sanjiv Mehta is the CEO and managing director of India’s largest FMCG company, Hindustan Unilever. He also leads Unilever’s business in South Asia as executive vice-president. He assumed his current responsibilities in 2013.
Mr Mehta has been with Unilever for nearly 25 years, and for the past 15 years he has led businesses in various parts of the world. He has been chairman and managing director of Unilever Bangladesh (2002–06), chairman and CEO of Unilever Philippines (2007–08), and chairman of Unilever North Africa and Middle East (2008–13).
Mr Mehta is on the India advisory boards of Harvard Business School, Enactus, HSBC’s Skills for Life programme and Xynteo’s India 2022 coalition. He is a member of the Breach Candy Hospital Trust and a member of the national or executive committee of several trade and industry bodies.
A firm believer that doing well and doing good are two sides of the same coin, he propagates the cause of compassionate capitalism. Mr Mehta has a bachelor of commerce (India), is a chartered accountant (India) and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Deepak Bagla

Chief executive and managing director, Invest India

Deepak Bagla

Chief executive and managing director, Invest India

Deepak Bagla is the chief executive and managing director of Invest India, the national investment promotion and facilitation agency for India.

His professional career started with the World Bank in Washington before he moved back to India to join the corporate projects team of RPG Enterprises. In 1989, he joined the global corporate and investment banking team at Citibank, and for the next 18 years, he held responsibilities across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. In 2007, he joined 3i Private Equity to start a fund dedicated to core infrastructure in India.

Mr Bagla was a special invitee to the government of India’s high-level committee on financing infrastructure from 2011 to 2013. He was a member of the banking and finance committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards in 2005 and 2006, and a member of the committee established by the government to recommend corporate-governance norms for independent directors in 2006. He was also the president of the Delhi Management Association in 2008 and 2009.

He holds a bachelor’s degree with honours in economics from St Stephen’s College, New Delhi, and a dual master’s degree in international diplomacy and international trade and finance from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington.

Anand Kripalu

Managing director and chief executive, Diageo India

Anand Kripalu

Managing director and chief executive, Diageo India

As chief executive and managing director of Diageo India, Anand Kripalu is leading the firm’s transformational journey. He is also part of the executive committee of Diageo plc. He was formerly president, India and South Asia, at Mondelez International, and managing director of Cadbury India. He also worked at Hindustan Unilever for 22 years. He has been a board member at Marico since 2007 and served as the chairman of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies.

Mr Kripalu has a bachelor’s degree in electronics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. He has also completed the advanced management programme at Wharton Business School.

Laurel West

Managing director, content solutions and events, Asia, The Economist Group

Laurel West

Managing director, content solutions and events, Asia, The Economist Group

Prior to taking up a commercial role with The Economist Group, Laurel spent more than ten years covering India as an editor with The Economist Intelligence Unit. She has also served as editorial director of the group’s Thought Leadership division for Asia, overseeing research programmes on a wide range of topics including the environment for internet-based business, women’s role in corporate Asia, innovation in healthcare and outbound M&A from China, to name but a few.
Currently based in Hong Kong, Ms West has lived in Asia for more than 20 years.

1:10 PM

Networking lunch

2:20 PM

Voices from the future: Empowering women

Around one in four Indian women work. Of those, few ascend to executive and senior managerial positions. If the country is to improve its standing among the world’s economies, government and business must encourage more women to work, equip them with the skills they need, and shift cultural mindsets so that they are treated as equals on factory floors and in boardrooms. What would a society where women are empowered, in and out of the workplace, mean for India?
In our “Voices from the Future” sessions, we invite forward-thinking speakers to present their vision for an India which is no longer held back by social challenges, and ask them to consider what steps the country will have to take to realise that vision.

Vinita Bali

Chair of the board of the directors, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

Vinita Bali

Chair of the board of the directors, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

Vinita Bali is a global business leader with extensive experience in leading large companies both in India and overseas. She has worked with eminent multinationals such as the Coca-Cola Company and Cadbury Schweppes in a variety of marketing, general management and chief executive roles in the UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Latin America and the US, in addition to Britannia Industries in India.

Ms Bali is pursuing her interests in the corporate and development sectors through a portfolio of roles and responsibilities. She is a non-executive director on the global boards of Syngenta International and Smith & Nephew. She serves as chairman of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and is on the advisory board of Cornell University’s Department of Nutritional Sciences. She also serves as a non-executive director on the boards of several companies in India (CRISIL, Titan Industries, and Kasturi & Sons) and is a member of the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and a member of the advisory board of PwC.

Ms Bali was among 27 global leaders appointed by the UN in 2012 to help improve maternal and child health as part of its Scaling Up Nutrition initiative; she completed her term in 2016. She has been recognised in forums nationally and internationally and won several awards for her various contributions to business.

Suchi Mukherjee

Founder and chief executive officer, Limeroad.com

Suchi Mukherjee

Founder and chief executive officer, Limeroad.com

Suchi Mukherjee is the power behind India’s most extensive online fashion discovery platform, LimeRoad. Prior to creating LimeRoad, she built the UK’s largest classified business. She then went on to help build business for eBay in the UK and later became a part of the executive management team of Skype.
Ms Mukherjee was named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in the NDTV Unicorn Start-Up Awards 2016, recognised among the Global Women Leaders under 40 and received the Femina Women Super Achiever Award. She was also selected as one of 15 women worldwide who were showcased and celebrated as high-potential leaders under 40 at the World Women’s Forum in Deauville, 2010. LimeRoad was voted the Coolest Start-Up by Business Today.
Ms Mukherjee received the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship to study economics at Cambridge University in 1994 and earned her master’s degree in finance and economics from the London School of Economics.

Anirudha Dutta

India macro analyst, Capital Group and author of Half a Billion Rising: The Emergence of the Indian Woman

Anirudha Dutta

India macro analyst, Capital Group and author of Half a Billion Rising: The Emergence of the Indian Woman

Anirudha Dutta is the author of Half a Billion Rising: The Emergence of the Indian Woman, published in 2015. He is an India analyst at Capital Group, a US-based mutual-fund company, and has been working in the financial services sector for over two decades. He holds a degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and a post-graduate diploma in business management from the Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur.

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli, a correspondent for The Economist, has been based in Delhi for the past three years. He concentrates mainly on stories that affect politics and society at the state level. He is also the Asia-based editor for The Economist’s 24-hour news desk, responsible for assigning and editing articles during the Asian third of the business day; he also composes the overnight European edition of The Economist Espresso. Prior to his assignment to Delhi, he worked in the newspaper’s Hong Kong and New York bureaus.

3:10 PM

Spotlight interview: From ‘Slumdog’ to millionaire–Selling the India brand

A viewer watching an advertisement or news show about China will be used to seeing footage of the picturesque Shanghai skyline and Beijing’s Forbidden City. Beyond the government’s “Incredible India” campaign, pictures and films of India rarely feature the Taj Mahal. Instead, foreigners are all too familiar with scenes of India’s slums and dirt roads, poor children begging on the streets, and smog darkening the Delhi and Mumbai skies.
Scenes such as these paint a bleak picture of India, hiding much of the progress that has been made in recent years and glossing over the country’s rich culture and heritage. The importance of selling India as a brand cannot be underestimated. Promoting a positive image of the country at home and abroad could boost investment, growth and development.
How can India become better at marketing itself?

Alan Rosling

Chairman, Griffin Growth Partners

Alan Rosling

Chairman, Griffin Growth Partners

Alan Rosling is an entrepreneur and strategic adviser focused on high-growth markets, especially India. He chairs Griffin Growth Partners and was co-founder of Kiran Energy, one of India’s pioneering independent solar-power producers.
Mr Rosling is a non-executive director of Coats Group and Constellation Alpha Capital Corp. He advises a number of early-stage businesses, especially in India. He was an executive director of Tata Sons Limited for five years, from 2004, and was the director responsible for internationalising the Tata Group. From 1998 to 2003 he was chairman of the Jardine Matheson Group in India.
His earlier career included the policy unit at Number 10 Downing Street; strategy director at United Distillers; and S.G. Warburg.
Mr Rosling was educated at Cambridge University and Harvard Business School. His first book, Boom Country: The New Wave of Indian Enterprise, was published in 2017.

Laurel West

Managing director, content solutions and events, Asia, The Economist Group

Laurel West

Managing director, content solutions and events, Asia, The Economist Group

Prior to taking up a commercial role with The Economist Group, Laurel spent more than ten years covering India as an editor with The Economist Intelligence Unit. She has also served as editorial director of the group’s Thought Leadership division for Asia, overseeing research programmes on a wide range of topics including the environment for internet-based business, women’s role in corporate Asia, innovation in healthcare and outbound M&A from China, to name but a few.
Currently based in Hong Kong, Ms West has lived in Asia for more than 20 years.

3:30 PM

Networking break

4:00 PM

Fast-forward: Industries of 2030

Technophiles predict that the world will look very different in 2030. Few people will own homes, self-driving cars will rule the road, drones will replace delivery men and women, and factory floors will be run by robots. Above all, artificial intelligence will be core to all systems and services.
What will Indian industry look like in 2030? What must happen for India to thrive in this digital future?

Amit Jain

President, India and South Asia, Uber

Amit Jain

President, India and South Asia, Uber

As president for Uber India and South Asia, Amit Jain leads the company's growth in one of its most strategic global markets. Before he joined Uber, Mr Jain was president of Rent.com, a leading technology company in the US. Earlier, he spent several years at TPG Capital, a global private equity firm, and at McKinsey & Company, where he was an associate partner. Mr Jain holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and an MBA from Stanford University.

Krishna Giri

Chairman and chief executive officer, Adrenalin eSystems

Krishna Giri

Chairman and chief executive officer, Adrenalin eSystems

Krishna Giri is currently the chairman and chief executive officer of Adrenalin eSystems, a global human capital management company. Mr Giri has nearly 30 years of experience in management consulting and technology services. His areas of expertise cover strategic planning, business and ICT strategy, transformation, and process improvement in diverse industries. He is a strategist with a clear focus on delivering technology to solve business problems, enable new business channels and transform organisations. He has advised, led and delivered large-scale transformational programmes to both public- and private-sector organisations in India and abroad. He has worked extensively in the US and in the Asia Pacific region.
Mr Giri was formerly vice chairman and managing partner of Accenture India and Asia Pacific and was a senior partner with IBM Global Business Services, Singapore office; Mitchell Madison Group, San Francisco; and Andersen Consulting, Chicago.
He serves as a senior adviser to Roland Berger, a global strategy firm, and is on the board of governors of IIITDM Kancheepuram. Mr Giri has a master’s degree in international affairs and public policy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and he is an alumnus of the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He has been conferred with a DLitt by Dr MGR University.

Satyanarayana Chava

Founder and chief executive officer, Laurus Labs

Satyanarayana Chava

Founder and chief executive officer, Laurus Labs

Satyanarayana Chava established Laurus Labs, a pharmaceutical company, in 2005. The company has received numerous awards at the national and international level, including Best Company in an Emerging Market from Scrip, National Safety Award from the government of India, Economic Times Manufacturing Excellence Award, Excellence in Performance and Business Scalability Award from Yes Bank and Health-Care Company of the Year Award from VCCircle.

Mr Chava started his career with Ranbaxy Laboratories as a research scientist in 1993. In 1995, he moved to Hyderabad and joined Vorin Laboratories, which became part of Matrix Labs. During his ten-year career with Matrix Labs, Mr Chava contributed significantly to the company’s growth and became chief operating officer in 2004. He has authored more than 100 patents over the course of his career so far. Mr Chava was appointed to the board of trustees of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention in 2016.

He completed a master of science and doctor of philosophy in chemistry at Andhra University. Mr Chava earned an executive MBA from the Indian School of Business in 2011, and he received an honorary doctor of science degree from GITAM University (Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management) in 2015.

Aditi Avasthi

Founder and chief executive officer, Embibe

Aditi Avasthi

Founder and chief executive officer, Embibe

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli, a correspondent for The Economist, has been based in Delhi for the past three years. He concentrates mainly on stories that affect politics and society at the state level. He is also the Asia-based editor for The Economist’s 24-hour news desk, responsible for assigning and editing articles during the Asian third of the business day; he also composes the overnight European edition of The Economist Espresso. Prior to his assignment to Delhi, he worked in the newspaper’s Hong Kong and New York bureaus.

4:50 PM

Closing keynote interview

Piyush Goyal

Minister of railways and coal, India

Piyush Goyal

Minister of railways and coal, India

Piyush Goyal is the minister railways and the minister of coal in the government of India. He is currently a member of Rajya Sabha and was earlier the national treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He headed the BJP's information communication campaign committee and oversaw the publicity and advertising campaign of the party, including the social media outreach for the Indian general elections in 2014.

During his 28-year political career, Mr Goyal has held several important positions at different levels in the BJP and is in the National Executive of the party. In 2002 the government of India nominated him to the prestigious Task-force on Interlinking of Rivers.
He was a well-known investment banker and he has advised top corporates on management strategy and growth. He earlier served on the board of the State Bank of India and the Bank of Baroda.

Mr Goyal is a chartered accountant and studied law at Mumbai University. He has participated in leadership programmes at Yale University (2011), Oxford University (2012) and Princeton University (2013) and is currently pursuing the Owner/President Management (OPM) programme at Harvard Business School.

Stanley Pignal

South Asia business and finance correspondent, The Economist

Stanley Pignal

South Asia business and finance correspondent, The Economist

Stanley Pignal is the South Asia business and finance correspondent, based in Mumbai. In his previous roles as finance correspondent then banking editor, he oversaw coverage of financial institutions from London, during which he wrote The Economist’s special report on “fintech”. He joined the newspaper in October 2012 from the Financial Times, where among other posts he covered the European Union out of Brussels during the euro-zone crisis. Mr Pignal also spent time in his native France to cover the banking, retail and luxury sectors. Prior to the FT Mr Pignal worked in corporate finance, analysing investment opportunities in the energy sector.

5:30 PM

Closing remarks

5:35 PM

Networking cocktails: Meet the moderators

Meet our session moderators from The Economist and The Economist Intelligence Unit to ask their views about India’s future.

Venue

The Taj Mahal Hotel is a five-star deluxe hotel located in the very heart of New Delhi. On Number One Mansingh Road, it stands as tribute to timeless hospitality and service, complementing the broad leafy boulevards of Delhi's chief architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens. Its proximity to the seat of government, the city's diplomatic corps, and entertainment, heritage and business districts has furthered the hotel’s reputation as the epicentre of the capital. Prominent landmarks - India Gate, the Presidential Palace and the National Museum - are a short 10-minute drive away.

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